Page 4 of Holiday Home 3

But at least it was the proof to back up Tess’s claim. Avril wouldn’t have responded as she had if she hadn't hit the bullseye. And if she had been the narcissist that Tessdidn’tbelieve she was, then she wouldn’t be mired in so much hesitation about how to respond. It was a silver lining, as much as one could be found in the unpleasant gloom surrounding her.

Eventually, Avril overcame the lump lodged in her throat. It didn’t restore any of the lost color in her complexion, but it did grant her the means to draw in a ragged breath. Her attention shifted from the woman on her right to the woman on her left.

“I’m, um, sorry, Anna. I didn’t mean to hijack things. I just… I guess I wasn’t thinking about your stuff, but I should have been. I’m sorry.”

Each word sounded like a pair of thick ropes being coiled tighter together. Hesitance and unease infected every syllable. It was plain as day that Avril wasn’t used to apologizing. At least not in a heartfelt manner. At the very least, there was effort there, if not eloquence.

And she had a best friend who was ready to forgive her immediately.

“It’s all right,” Anna said, reaching out to find one of Avril’s hands in her lap. “Thank you for your apology.”

Avril found enough of her old self to create a half-hearted smile, though it faded before long. As a few more apologies, accepted as quickly as their predecessors by her roommate, tumbled off her tongue, Liam’s focus shifted away from them. It arrived at the catalyst for Avril’s nigh-unimaginable state of repentance.

As soon as his eyes landed on Tess, hers subtly shifted to meet his. Nothing spoken passed between them, nor anything telepathic. She remained as inscrutable now as she’d been since she brought over their drinks and sat down.

He marveled at what she’d just accomplished, of course. But he also wondered. He wondered if she’d anticipated this outcome and intended for any mention of her supposed interest in him to be forgotten by reorienting the topic as she so deftly had. If that had been her goal, her plan seemed to have succeeded so far.

Yet, in her heavenly features, he discovered no proof to tip the scales either way. She withheld anything remotely akin to a subtle nod or smile. Eventually, Avril and Anna would need to leave. Eventually, it would just be him and Tess—alone. And he had no idea how things would go once that happened.

“How are you feeling about what’s to come?” Tess asked, attention shifting toward Anna once she’d finally convinced Avril that she didn’t need to apologize any further. “With your father.”

“Yeah,” Avril said, voice remaining somewhere between half and two-thirds its usual volume. “He’s going to want to meet Liam.” She shook her head. “Let me rephrase that. He’s going to want to break you two up ASAP.”

“Yes, I know,” Anna said, sighing.

Finally feeling like the water was tepid enough for him to wade in without getting boiled alive, Liam said, “Since we’renotactually dating, I don’t think it’ll be that bad, no matter what he does.”

“It’s untread ground,” Avril said, one hand still entwined with Anna’s. “You’ve never openly dated like this. Hard to say how Arnold’s going to react. Not well, probably.”

“All the missed phone calls and voicemails on my phone seem to suggest so,” the raven-haired woman agreed. She levied her attention on him. “Are you comfortable meeting him at some point?”

He nodded immediately. All this had started because he’d gone and run his mouth. If he could do anything to help her through the trouble he’d made for her, he’d do it gladly.

Anna’s alluringly pouty lips, which had spent most of the past hour trending downward, momentarily lifted. “Thank you, Liam. I’ll make sure I’m there when that happens.”

“You should make sure your mom’s there too,” Avril suggested. “You know, have the much, much, much better half there.”

Anna nodded. “Yes, that’s a good idea.” She sighed again as her purse began to vibrate once more. “I think I should take this before he ends up escalating things somehow.”

“Want any of us to come with?” Avril asked as Anna pushed herself up from her chair.

“No, but thank you. I’ll be back shortly.”

She didn’t quite manage to keep her expression from wavering before she turned and departed. In those few moments, all three of them saw the anxiety running amok across her delicate, lovely features. Stepping away from the room and heading out of the house, in fact, they all heard her say “Hello” before Tess’s front door prevented them from any further eavesdropping.

That was the final word heard in the house for over a minute.

One of the most awkward silences Liam had ever suffered through took place during the next sixty-odd seconds. Avril remained her unsettlingly demure self, barely looking up from her lap. Her mouth did work its way from side to side, suggesting that she was deep in thought; perhaps she was replaying how her decisions had led her to this point.

One woman over, Tess pointed her eyes toward the hallway. A raincloud of concern hovered above her head. That didn’t stop her from noticing his attention when it landed on her for a second time. For scant seconds, their eyes connected. Had it lasted slightly longer, they might have conveyed something through that connection. But it was not to be, for Avril finally broke the silence permeating the table.

“Sooo…”

In tandem, his and Tess’s eyes flew to the redhead, who was only just beginning to lift her gaze from her lap. Once they did, she looked at Tess. Hesitance and uncertainty weren’t fitting emotions for the vivacious woman, but they continued to cling to her all the same. Tess really had inserted the knife exactly where it could cause the most damage. Before today, Liam would never have thought he might see her like this.

“Do you really think I’m a narcissist?” Avril asked after her brief pause.

Tess blinked, and her gaze briefly reconnected with his. The surprise in her eyes must have surely found a reflection in his.

---